Letters to the Editor

I am at the crossroads, so to speak. Don't get me wrong—I'm
a fanatic Linux user, but... First of all, some background: I work
for Futurekids (South Africa), and our mission is basically to
teach children and adults computer mastery skills. Currently this
is done entirely on MS platforms. I started to search for
alternative budget systems similar to what we use on MS, but had no
luck. It seems the only use for Linux in the classroom is for
Internet access and file/printer sharing.

This brings me back to the underlying problem. If we truly
want to promote Linux, we must start with the younger
generation—the adults of tomorrow. If we can work together to
implement a solid education program based on the Linux platform, I
believe we will have success. The net result? Children use Linux at
school—they get frustrated with Windows at home—and eventually
more and more home Windows systems migrate to the Linux platform.
But we need this educational system first. To start, the software
developers must begin producing “kids” programs—and please, not
another flash card program—but programs that make use of
multimedia to teach children how a mouse works, how the keyboard
works, then progress to Encarta-like encyclopedias, etc.

Dear Linux Developer Community—there is your
challenge!

—Nico Coetzee nicc@mweb.co.za

Product Support

I have been using computers for many years, so I am no
stranger to the difficulties associated with installing a new OS.
But to make claims in your magazine that so far are false, such as
the ease of loading Caldera, has put me off both your magazine and
Linux in general. I have tried to contact the company: the person
at the 1-888 number could easily be replaced by a tape machine,
technical-support lines requested I pay more money to make their
product work, and I have received no response from e-mail support.
I write to you because I read a review in your magazine, and dopey
me, I thought someone there used the software before they wrote
about it.

—Michael Brooks AZTowGuy@aol.com

Sorry you had problems. In actuality, at least four people
here at the office, including the reviewer, used the Caldera LIZARD
install successfully with only the one problem discussed in the
review. Since that time, we did try to install it on an old machine
with a strange configuration, and LIZARD hung up. We switched to
the LISA install and it worked fine, installing everything off the
CD-ROM without a problem. Took longer than LIZARD, but was still
fairly easy. Writing an easy install that includes all possible
configurations of hardware, both old and new, is not an easy
task —Editor

The Revolution Continues

First off, I would like to say good job with your magazine. I
always look forward to the new issue hitting our shelves in my
store. I work for Barnes and Noble booksellers, and that's what the
other part of this letter is about. I wanted to inform you that due
to the support of our Customer Relations manager, and of the store
in general, we have started a Linux Users Group through my local
store. We meet in the store once a month (the third Tuesday of
every month, for those of you in the Lakewood/Long Beach, CA,
area). It has quickly grown to be the most popular group in our
store, even surpassing the regular reading groups. I hope this
trend continues and we see more user groups popping up. Thanks
again.

—Jason Lundy lcghent@yahoo.com

Is KDE the Answer?

I have to disagree with Phil Hughes' position in “Is KDE the
Answer?” in October's Linux Journal. At the
end of the article, Phil states that we should all jump on the KDE
bandwagon because KDE is further ahead and is the default on more
distributions. He also states that one standard GUI is better than
two for appliance users.

I think this is wrong. First of all, there is something to be
valued in diversity, as diversity breeds strength. If one day KDE
runs into a brick wall and cannot further advance, we'd still have
GNOME. Furthermore, if we all jumped on the product that was
furthest ahead, Linux would not exist today.

Second, I see no advantage to giving appliance users (or
newbies, or any other user) only one interface. While this may
require less mental exertion on the part of the user, it will also
lead to a bland, homogenized world. A different, novel interface
may actually appeal to some of the appliance users.

Phil also mentions offering “one standard GUI rather than
two”. This is like saying the US has only two political parties. I
use neither KDE nor GNOME, because neither works well for me. Just
try running either on a slower Alpha with a TGA card, and you'll
know what I mean. Instead I use
icewm, which I think is far
superior to either. I've used other window managers such as
mwm,
amiwm and
twm, and find all of them far
faster, more stable and in almost all ways superior to KDE and
GNOME, especially on low-end hardware.

By saying that we should all jump on the KDE bandwagon, Phil
is saying that we should all fit ourselves into KDE's mold rather
than finding and developing the tools that fit us. In my book, KDE
is not the answer.